Flag of Chile

The flag of Chile is often known as "The Lone Star" in honor of
the emblem in the canton. It shows a clear influence from the flags of other
former colonies in the Americas, but it is also influenced by the native people
of Chile. It is far from the first of the Chilean flags, and it also shows
the influence of the past designs that represented the nation.

Capital of Chile: Santiago

Area of Chile: 748,800 sq. km

Languages used in Chile: Spanish

Religions in Chile: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish NEGL

Colors and Symbolism the Flag of Chile

The flag of Chile features one white stripe and one red stripe with a blue
square that bears a white star in the canton. The red stripe represents the
blood that Chilean patriots shed in order to win and preserve their freedom,
while the white stripe represents the pure snow of the Andes mountains. The
blue square represents the sky, and the white star is a symbol of the lawful
Chilean government and its powers.

History of Chilean Flags

Chilean flags can trace their design back to the flags used by the native Mapuche
people during the Arauco War. One of the extant flags used by the Mapuche was
a solid blue field with a white star, which is most likely the source of the
canton design of the modern flag. The red, white, and blue colors were also
attributed to Mapuche flags by the poet Alonso de Ercilla, but no flags in
those colors have survived to the present day to prove his claims.

Chile started to use the Spanish flag when colonists from Spain took power
in the region, but the Spanish flag was abandoned as soon as Chile declared
its independence. The new nations first flag was adopted in 1812. It was a
tricolor with horizontal stripes of white, blue, and yellow that displayed
the Chilean shield in the center and the Cross of Santiago in the canton. The
war for Chilean independence was still raging at the time, so the flag fell
out of use briefly in 1814 when royalist forces seized power in Chile. A new
government eventually took power and replaced it with a triband of blue, white,
and red, which was only used for a single year before it was replaced with
the modern flag of Chile.